Friday, September 24, 2010

I've gone totally scatterbrained in the kitchen. I'm starting to cook like my sister, who is famous in the family for baking purple chocolate chip cookies without the aid of any food coloring. How exactly that happened remains a mystery.

I'm spacing out, putting things in the freezer that should be in the refrigerator and vice versa.

I think I ruined a 3lb box of cream cheese...

I even managed to messed up today's recipe which is, by any measure, simple and easy.

I forgot to toss the chocolate shavings with cocoa, so my Tiramisu Truffles lack their blush of cocoa powder. They still look and taste wonderful, even without the cocoa, so up on the blog they go with my scatterbrained candy-making mea culpa.

I'll be out of town starting mid-next week for a conference--no, not food or food blogging related. Maybe some time out of the kitchen will let me relax and recharge my batteries; I have been cooking an awful lot lately.

So these truffles, they're simple, silky and delicious. The white chocolate mascarpone ganache is infused with a hint of Marsala and espresso. While the original recipe didn't call for powdered espresso, I've included it, as I cannot imagine tiramisu without the slightly bitter hint of coffee. Some espresso is dissolved and the rest peppers the ganache with little speaks and streaks of coffee flavor.

While they are quick to make, you should allow two days for these truffles. An overnight in the refrigerator will allow the tiramisu ganache to set and the flavors to develop.

Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Set the chocolate aside and allow to cool until just lukewarm.

While waiting, dissolve half of the espresso powder in the Marsala wine.

When the chocolate has cooled a bit, whisk in the mascarpone until smooth then add the espresso Marsala. Mix in the remaining powdered espresso, cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day:

Grate the block of milk chocolate on the largest holes of a box grater. Toss the chocolate shavings with the dutch processed cocoa.

Now grab that beautiful espresso speckled tiramisu ganache...

Scoop balls of the ganache with a spoon--a round measuring spoon works great--and roll quickly between your palms. If your hands get sticky quickly, dust your clean palms with a little powdered sugar between rolling.

To finish, roll the truffles in the shaved chocolate/cocoa mixture.

These truffles are made from fresh perishable ingredients and are best enjoyed soon after making them. If you wish to keep them for more than a day, place a single layer of the truffles into an air tight container and refrigerate for up to 10 days.

It is important that you allow the chocolates to come to room temperature before servings, as cold truffles will not have the ideal texture, flavor or mouth feel.

This looks awesome. I've never been able to make truffels, because they always melted away when I tried to roll them between my hands. But with this cooled down stuff, it could actually work.And I LOVE tiramisu!

Does it have to be "dutch-processed cocoa", though? I just have the usual cocoa powder (sweetened) that is so common here in Germany, and I'm not sure where to get something else.

Linda, you can ALWAYS sub out ingredients, you just might not end up making the same dish you started out to create!

If you wanna get close to marsala in flavour I'd go for a little watered down orange or pineapple juice with some vanilla essence but you could dissolve the coffee powder in milk and still have beautiful coffee/choc truffles.